It’s just cable tv all over again. Pay for 8 services to get a handful of shows you want to watch with the other 90% not being touched , now with ads creeping back in too .
And yet, people will fall for it again and again
People that don’t pirate won’t have a choice.
While I’m all for piracy (obviously), there’s always a choice. Decades ago when cable was going through this, TV was at the center of culture and absolutely everyone watched it.
That’s just not true anymore. Even aside from piracy, they have to compete for people’s time and attention with videogames, social media, and all sorts of other internet-based entertainment. I suspect a lot of the executives making these decisions don’t realize this - they think it’s still 20 years ago when having some of your biggest shows on your channel guaranteed a big audience. If they squeeze too hard people will just spend their time with other sorts of entertainment.
I think that the publishing industry is a good comparison - look at where it is now. It still produces stuff but its cultural relevance is a pale shadow of what it once was and its margins are razor-thin because few people are going to pay a premium even for a bestseller. I think that that’s the long-term fate of TV and movies, especially as the generation that was weened on them dies off and a new generation that watched much less growing up comes of age.
publishing industry
As in book publishing?
Not me ! But not everyone has a PC that can store tons of movies and shows so they don’t have much other choice . There’s one streaming service that I think is only in Canada called crave that charges an extra $10 to watch on anything other than your phone it’s just the worst .
get a debrid service
But not everyone has a PC
That’s a decision they’ve made for themselves. No sympathy. Computers are cheap, storage even cheaper.
Personal responsiblity
at least you can choose to pay for one streamer at a time, binge, switch, repeat.
(for now, anyway… until they all quit the full season drops and/or start putting their catalog on a rotation like the ‘disney vault’ was to home video).
Or only offer annual contracts with early cancellation fees.
they’d go a ‘no refunds’ policy first, which they’d totally get away with in the u.s.
Yeah, this is what is next. Another thing might be to split up one service into subcategories, like family, sci-fi, cinema or whatever and then charging for each individually. Obviously ending up more expensive if you get them all than what it is now.
They already fucking do.
They just pretend pre-roll trailers aren’t ads.
(Not trying to defend/excuse fking Amazon lol) They’re easy to skip, though. I imagine these will not be skippable.
Also, people have paid to have Plex play them trailers for years, as it gives a cinematic experience.
It’s not for me, an ad’s an ad.
As far as I’m concerned skippable ads are the same thing as any other ad. I use auto play for a reason and it’s because I don’t want to fuck with the remote every episode.
If anything they are worse because they make you become aware enough of the ad to make the connection to physically push a button skip it. When HBO Minimum Quality added them I dropped it. When Paramount (We can’t build a functional app) + and Disney Pus (Not a typo) added them I finally built a media server and rejoined the high seas after 20 years. I’ll never go back.
When I had Plex play trailers, it was only ever before movies, with trailers for movies. Seeing it every time you watch an episode of a show is too much.
Wish the overly aggressive product placement were skippable, e.g. in Reacher:
I am down for hyper on-brand, clearly denoted, clever/humorous sponsored segments. StyroPyro was able to advertise a desk this way. So well integrated, honest, and relevant, I didn’t skip even though I don’t need a chemical-resistant adjustable standing desk.
If I remember right styropyro was just doing product placement with flexi-spot. After Herman Miller bought Fully and tripled their prices, I had to switch desk vendors at work and I had already started using these guys. They’re good cheap AF, Chinese standing desks. LTT was shilling for them about 6 months ago. I honestly don’t care who makes the desk I’m just sick and effing tired of having to spend $800-$1200 a desk for generic Alibaba parts.
I don’t understand why would I watch a trailer of the movie I’m about to watch. It doesn’t make any sense to me
The Plex feature is trailers for other movies, like when you go to the cinema.
Goddddddddd this and HBO. I’m already on your fuckin platform, show me the show. If you REALLY need to push whatever new BS cash grab you’ve got, put it in a new releases section.
if I have to hear about American football against my will, it’s a fucking ad
Gotta love corporate greed.
If you are displaying ads to the user, the ads should pay for their access. If a user is paying for access to a service, they shouldn’t see ads.
(or unless you stop paying at all)
Yarrrrrrrrr I do like this option, lad, lass, or other.
Ya know, I barely shop on Amazon anymore, I should go ahead and cancel that…
Things to do today:
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Pay mortgage - done
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Pay electric bill - done
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Cancel Amazon - and done
Get a VPN after canceling Amazon and download whatever you want. Mullvad is much cheaper than prime video.
Sonarr + Radarr + Transmission-OpenVPN + Ombi + Plex.
For the past ~5 years or so, I’ve had the choice of a polished web UI to pirate any movie or TV show on demand. Up until the past few months, I have still paid for:
- Netflix
- Amazon Prime
- Apple TV+ (as part of Apple One)
- Disney+
- YouTube Premium
… because their products and recommendation engines were more user-friendly for my family and I. Since the pattern of price gouging in the last 6-12 months, I now subscribe to:
- Netflix (cancelling this imminently)
- Apple Music (Apple One cancelled)
I hope the shameless cash grabs result in a mass exodus of users and really hurt these platforms.
I’ve recently reached the point where I could barely afford some of them… if they were as good as they were a year ago. Seems I’m sticking to the Seven Seas and my downloaded music library.
You don’t even need a VPN if you live in a country that doesn’t care
How do I do that on my TV? Is that a thing? I’ve got whatever the cheapest “smart” TV was in Walmart maybe three or four years ago with a Roku attached.
Not terribly savvy in these matters.
Thanks
Edit: Looks like I can do it via my router. I’m away for the weekend, so I’ll look into this next week. Thanks again for the idea
Yes Mullvad does have router configuration files. It’s only like $5.33/mo. Also your streaming catalog changes based on locations. Like for Netflix, Hulu and etc.
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Is there even anything worth watching on Prime? I haven’t even looked at it in years.
The Expanse is one of the best sci-fi shows of all time. I highly recommend it.
I quite like Reacher, most people like The Boys, I’ve heard good things about Good Omens.
Not with ads there isn’t.
Undone is probably the only show worth watching on prime, and you can stream it for free here: https://fmoviesz.to/
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This will cause me to torrent the Amazon shows I want to watch even though I’ll likely still have access to an Amazon account to watch them on.
Welp… this isn’t very strategically sound. Within the same service, they want to motivate me to consolidate shipping to Amazon delivery day or no rush. Guess who’s not using those methods anymore? Fuck you amazon, gonna cost you multiples of that $3 in shipping you greedy fucks.
I do exactly the same. I always opt for the earliest free prime delivery available, even for just one item in my order.
Fuck their Amazon delivery day and No rush shipping. “Delivery in fewer trips to your home” ? I have exactly zero fucks to give - I need my stuff as early as possible as my prime membership will let me, even if at 4 AM in the morning, because I am freaking paying for it.
And “green for the environment” my ass - I know they don’t care about environment, and I don’t care about the gas tank of their delivery vans.
so… a $3 a month increase to prime.
one that will likely net amazon more profit when you don’t give-in and pay the extra (ads being more profitable than subs, as netflix has realized).
It already does this. I frequently get ads for other shows when starting a show on Prime video. I can barely accept the existing ads.
They effed up back in the day by not giving me a client for my phone or my roku. Wanted me to buy their hardware. I already have prime, couldn’t even tell you two movies/shows that debuted on it.
Portable HDD with pirated movies and shows FTW
NAS and Jellyfin when at home brother
I plan on cancelling Prime this year.
The only reason I haven’t is that my siblings need to use my account sometimes.
I have been meaning to cancel my Prime membership. Prices are high, shipping hardly gets anything to me on time. Who can find anything on Prime Video with their horrible interface? Not worth the price. Time to put on my pirate’s hat and save a buck.